Most modern automobiles and light trucks have a central console disposed between the driver's seat and the front passenger seat. The adjacent edges of the seats and the console are spaced from one another to allow the seats to be adjusted forwardly or rearwardly. Small objects which may have been placed on top of the console or fall from a pocket tend to fall into the gap and land on the vehicle floor, and the narrow dimensions of the gap make it difficult to retrieve these objects.
This problem often annoys drivers and several solutions have been proposed. U.S. Pat. No. 5,887,941 discloses a removable receptacle placed longitudinally on the automobile floor underlying the gap between the driver's seat and the console to collect objects which drop through the gap. U.S. Pat. No. 4,948,195 discloses a cardboard box of approximately the size of the gap having accordion pleated sides so that it may be adjusted in width to fit within the gap and block it. U.S. Patent Application 2007/0241581 discloses a block of resiliently deformable material that has dimensions slightly greater than the gap and may be compressed so as to fit within the gap. None of these devices is believed to have enjoyed commercial success. First, they do not make any provision for the side seatbelts which are necessarily anchored to the side of the seat in the gap between the seat and the console and must extend upwardly through the gap. U.S. Patent Application 2007/0241581 proposes that the seatbelt extend between the resilient blocker and the driver's seat. This limits the adjustability of the driver's seatbelt in a manner that is often unacceptable, and provides inadequate coverage around the seatbelt stem. Moreover, none of these devices considers the necessary fore and aft adjustment required of the driver's seat, which tends to deform and distort the devices of these previous designs.